SDG 14: Life Below Water

In 1986 a group of concerned citizens joined forces, launching the Alliance to protect their families and neighbors from the impacts of unchecked oil and gas development. Over the years, the organization grew to address a broad array of issues concerning the quality and protection of regional air, land, and water resources. The Alliance has over 1000 dues-paying members and thousands of supporters who care passionately about preserving the unique qualities of this region. We are supported by eight staff members who add decades of technical and strategic expertise to the cause.

Ocean Alliance was founded in 1971 by renowned cetacean biologist Dr. Roger Payne. Roger’s discovery in the 1970s that humpback whales sing songs was not only a landmark moment for the birth of modern whale biology, but also for the global "save the whale" movement. The haunting and beautiful song combined with its presumed role in courtship connected the public with these animals in an emotional and heretofore unseen manner, raising the public opinion that led to the global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982.

American Friends of Canadian Conservation accomplishes its land and water preservation mission through innovative partnerships and its ability to access valuable bi-national financial incentives. Qualified Canadian conservation entities identify properties what are high priorities for protection and owned by US taxpayers.

The new Salish Sea Ambient Monitoring Exchange (SSAMEx) represents a forum to harmonize and exchange ambient marine monitoring data in the trans-boundary waters of British Columbia and Washington State.

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States lives the Southern Resident Community of Orcas, an endangered population of orcas, sometimes known as "killer whales".

The Whale Museum, located in beautiful Friday Harbor, Washington, opened to the public in 1979 as the first museum in the country devoted to a species living in the wild. Today, our museum continues to promote stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education and research.

Orca Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in Washington State (Employer Identification Number: 91-2168027), dedicated to raising awareness about the whales of the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats. A community is emerging that is increasingly attuned to the orca population, that cares about and tries to understand the needs of the Resident and Transient orcas that inhabit the Salish Sea.
 

Harnessing the momentum of ongoing community-based biodiversity research, our initiative has enlisted a team of researchers in a biogeographic study of this region of critical conservation concern, including taxonomic experts, resident citizen scientists, and curators of biodiversity projects in several communities in British Columbia, CA, and Washington, USA.

Dedicated to the study and conservation of the Southern Resident killer whale (orca) population in the Pacific Northwest.